- Learning to Crack Part 2 was written in 20 minutes and is the lead track from The Kids Are Bored.
- It has 14 chords.
- It’s about the last ten minutes of a relationship. Scratch that. It’s about something else.
- There are a set of lyrics for a song called Learning to Crack that still has no music for it.
- Although Roberto hates most of the song, he loves the ending and thinks its the best recording from The Kids Are Bored.
- Bob suggested modulating for the guitar solo.
- A video was filmed and ruined during developing.
- There have been very few live performances of this song.
- The last time the original line-up performed LTCP2, Roberto and Bob were sharing lead vocals, with Bob taking lead on the chorus.
- Some people hear Weezer in this song and there’s some truth to it. Weezer’s Blue Album was buzzing around Roberto’s head when he wrote it.
Tag: Video
Music, Rock and Roll
Video: Learning to Crack Part 2
by gonehazel •
Gone Hazel has added some pizzazz to it’s only surviving image from the sad but true story of the Learning to Crack video shoot. The history of that video can be found here.
Meanwhile, below is a sort-of video to accompany the song.
Electric Guitar, Music, Rock and Roll
Gone Hazel’s First Official Video: Alternative This
by gonehazel •
Alternative This
Finally, a Gone Hazel video before you. No acting, no miming, just an animated companion to one of our best songs: Alternative This. A joy to make, it’s been sitting, waiting since 2013 but enough’s enough. Gone Hazel, formed in 1996, broke down in 1999, did a few things in 2004/5 and coming back to life in 2013, unleashes it’s first official video in 2015. Alternative This.
You can read about the complete dramatic story of Gone Hazel video-making here.
Music
The Long and Winding Dramatic Story of Gone Hazel Video-Making
by gonehazel •
Gone Hazel’s history in video-making is tragic (a very loose meaning of the word). Let’s start at the beginning.
Learning to Crack Part 2
In 1998, while The Kids Are Bored was getting regular rotation on college campuses in the US northeast, a video was made for Learning to Crack Part 2. The idea was simple. Since videos at the time were already going crazy with jump cuts, Gone Hazel chose to film a video with one camera angle and in one take. The two minute and twenty second video was not of Gone Hazel singing along but baking a cake. The camera stayed still while a bag of flour was skateboarded in and thrown on the table. Following that, a carton of eggs was delivered – on roller blades – and also thrown on the table. As the skateboard and roller blades circled the table in real time, the ingredients flew through the air: a jug of milk, chocolate syrup, paint, turpentine, mustard…anything that could be crammed onto the table. Then, with the preparation table more or less prepared, the roller blades came off, the skateboard was ditched and all three Gone Hazel members assaulted the ingredients. By the end, the scene was something you’d never see on the Food Network.
And as it turned out, it was also something no one (not even the band) would see at all. The film was exposed to light during developing and ruined. This fun idea, all filmed in one take, with Gone Hazel dressed only in chef hats and aprons, was never to be seen. Except for this: one photo of the film shoot has survived.
To get an approximate effect of the video, listen to Learning to Crack Part 2 while staring at the photo.
[cue id=”363″]